The present invention relates to a clock and learning aid combination. The dictionary has been an important part of a children's education both in school and at home. Research claims that a person can memorize three to four words at a time. Out of these words, only one or two will remain in the long-term memory. It is, therefore, a natural conclusion that children, as well as adults, who use dictionaries often will have a larger vocabulary than those who do not.
For a person conscientious about education, an electronic form of a dictionary would be of great benefit. Such dictionary is useful as a time saving device and also a space saving device. Electronic dictionaries were described as early as 1979 in Levy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,236. In the 1990's computer technology made possible the release of dictionaries on computer discs, CD-ROM and as part of multivolume reference-book packages.
Dictionaries, however, are designed to provide reference upon need. Once a person comes across a word for which the meaning is not known, the meaning will be sought in a dictionary. But one would not typically read the dictionary for the sole purpose of enhancing one's vocabulary. This is especially true for children.
Published U.S. Pat. Application 2004/0029091 to M. Gitman published Feb. 12, 2004, for “Clock-Learning Aid and Combination” shows a clock-learning aid combination that displays learning materials on the face of the clock. It is a combination of a clock and a display of a thesaurus or other learning materials. The content may be arranged according to different linguistic levels, to suit various ages and topics. The learning material display item appears at a rate selected by the user and because the user would look at the clock frequently throughout the day, memorization of the vocabulary would likely occur.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,099 to G. Svast granted Mar. 30, 1993, for “Reminder Clock” shows a programmable clock including a memory for storing times, dates and messages for subsequent read-out and display in providing a reminder of a birthday, anniversary, doctor's appointment, meeting, and the like. The invention alerts a user to stored messages at designated times. The reminder clock also includes a speaker and an audio recorder for providing a reminder message in the user's own voice. The reminder clock makes use of any one of several analog and combined analog and digital time displays. Various audio and/or video alarms are provided to indicate the read-out and display of a reminder message. The clock will alert the user to stored messages at designated times.